Description
Material described in this finding aid represents the main
correspondence portion of the Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle collection at the Clark
Library. The collection includes letters by Wilde, his wife, his mother, Lord Alfred
Douglas, More Adey, Christopher Millard, Robert Ross, and Adela Schuster, among many
others.
Background
Oscar Wilde was born Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde in Dublin, Ireland, October 16,
1854. He attended Trinity College and Magdalen College, Oxford, winning the Newdigate prize
in 1878 for the poem Ravenna. He subsequently established
himself in London society as a champion of the new Aesthetic movement, advocating "art for
art's sake," and publishing reviews and his Poems (1881). After
being satirized (and made famous) as Bunthorne, the fleshly aesthetic poet in Gilbert and
Sullivan's Patience, he made a year-long lecture tour of the
United States, speaking on literature and the decorative arts. After his return to London,
he married Constance Lloyd in 1884; they had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan Holland. In 1891 he
met and began a love affair with the handsome but temperamental poet, Lord Alfred
Douglas.
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. All requests
for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the
Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the William Andrews Clark
Memorial Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. For additional copyright
information related to Oscar Wilde, contact Merlin Holland, email:
merlin.holland[at]wanadoo.fr
Availability
Collection is open for research.